[Q] Handsfree music control - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I am commuting every day and using Waze app for traffic. I also connect my Nexus 4 to the AUX port of my car for music. Since the Waze app is always on, I need to pull the notification bar down to reach the music controls. However, the buttons are very small and due to the distraction it is actually dangerous trying to select the next track. Is there a better way to control the music player in this situation? An app would let me say a voice command to change the song I am listening and so on? Thanks!

Overlays
I haven't found a perfect solution, but I downloaded "Overlays" from the play store.
I use Rocket Player, so I created a profile that overlays one of the Rocket Player Widgets over the Waze App while it's running. It's not ideal, but it's better than me having to drop down menu, similar to yours.
Ideally I'd like Waze to interact with my player so I can use it hands free.
Hope this helps!

Related

[REQ] Good podcast/audiobook player?

Most everything is geared towards music. I don't tend to listen to music, I like listening to my podcasts and audio magazines.
Currently I'm using RSS Hub with TCPMP which allows me to jump forward/back 10 seconds if I missed what they said or need to skip forward thru commercials. It works ok, but not great.
I'd really like to find software that stops when I get a call and restarts when the call is completed, has bigger on screen buttons, has the ability to automatically add the newer podcasts to a playlist (might be dreaming...). If I could control it with a Jabra 8010 BT headset that'd be even better!
Any suggestions? I tried MortPlayer but had some issues with it glitching, also that it went full screen - I need to see signal strength, other running programs, battery power, etc...
I'm not sure these would meet all of your specs
but I've used Pocket Player for podcasts with good results, I remember it would pause playback for a call. I like Kinoma for audiobooks, as it remembers where you left off in the file. For a free audio podcast app, you could try the new version of Viigo, it seemed much improved from the last time I had used it.
Good Luck
MortPlayer works great for audiobooks and podcasts.
PocketPlayer. Pauses on calls and has a bookmarking facility. I use it for Audiobooks and podcasts using AllwaySync to sync the podcasts from iTunes on my network to the external card on my Touch HD
Regards
Pocket Tunes can automatically save where you were when you exit the app. It also does manual bookmarking. My only complaint is that it often reverted to the last auto bookmark when there was "activity" like a phone call or text message.
Pocket Player also does manual bookmarking.
I've used those two, and I like the Pocket Tunes interface better.
PocketPlayer doesn't appear to be able to download podcasts automatically as they're available, nor on demand - only when you select the podcast to play it (unless I'm missing something). I have HSDPA at home, but not typically while I'm driving...
Pocket Tunes has a nifty feature that allows for automatic delete of a podcast once listened to, but I can't find any other information about it. It also doesn't appear to be able to skip forward or back 10 seconds instead of next/previous track.
Any comments?
I currently use Mortplayer. You can choose a skin which leaves the topbar uncovered. You can even have a skin which superimposes a narrow bar on whatever screen is underneath. Bookmarks work reliably and fast on audiobooks and podcasts. I use AEButton to map the down volume to play/pause (MPpause.lnk - included with Mortplayer) which works even with the screen off. Pause/Resume on phone calls works well. It cannot download podcasts. I use RSShub or MediaMonkey (on the desktop) for this.
Kinoma has a great interface (with it's own topbar, it is full screen) and bookmarks. The free version can stream podcasts, the paid version can also download them. It can also download and play audible.com content, and lots of other sources. Well worth checking out. I found the book marks less robust than Mortplayer, if you didn't exit the player properly it lost them. Also to exit you had to click back about 6 screens to get to the home screen.
Both seem to use a lot of CPU cycles and hence battery. I would like to use TCPMP which seems to use less but can't find a resume/bookmark addon for it. There is an addon for WMP on this forum (search "WMP resume") but it didn't work for me on a Touch HD.
Hope this helps.

Stock Music App

The Stock music app stops playing after a song finishes when the screen is off. The next song comes up after the screen is unlocked. Is there a way to stop that? If not, is there a better free music app for the transformer?
Thanks.
Amazon mp3 is pretty good and should be in tablet market.
Try searching for songbird or winamp also idk if they are ported to honeycomb yet but both are solid free options.
Trust me (-..-) im from the webs
Winamp is a little buggy, but it works. Amazon music player is good (but I the cloud player doesn't work as well as it could). Songbird has a nice layout, but you can't scroll through an individual song. They all play music after the Transformer shuts down.
I think the stock player has the best layout of them all, so I hope it gets an update to fix this.
Win amp does not allow me to search through my music. It force closes the app almost immediately. I am only able to play music through the widget.

Solution to Bluetooth Play/Pause Random Re-Mapping

I'm a big beyondpod user on the DX, and I almost always listen on bluetooth headphones. I have consistently had problems with beyondpod retaining control of the bluetooth play/pause button. After the screen is off the play pause button will often launch the default music player. At which point I have to fish out the phone, launch beyondpod and click the bluetooth play/pause button to re-enable beyondpod's control.
I know there are a couple of apps in the market that can set a default app for the bluetooth play/pause button, but I haven't found one that supports beyondpod.
The other day I decided to disable the default music player (changed .apk to .bak) and it has completely solved my issue. Beyondpod has not lost control of bluetooth yet! And now that google music is available I don't have to miss the default music app. I have been searching for a solution to this off and on for a year, and hadn’t until now found a good solution.

[Q] Notifications pausing music

One of my favorite features of 4.1 Jellybean was that notifications (SMS, etc.) did not pause music, but rather were gently overlaid on top of a temporarily lowered volume.
Perhaps this is a Samsung disruption of a thoughtful Android enhancement, as while streaming music from rdio on my shiny new N3, I was dismayed to have had my music brutally interrupted for a text message notification.
Obnoxious. Annoying. Any way to fix this?
You can't fix it. Because it doesn't any error.
Tapatalked from my HTC One SV using Tapatalk 4
lordbathos said:
One of my favorite features of 4.1 Jellybean was that notifications (SMS, etc.) did not pause music, but rather were gently overlaid on top of a temporarily lowered volume.
Perhaps this is a Samsung disruption of a thoughtful Android enhancement, as while streaming music from rdio on my shiny new N3, I was dismayed to have had my music brutally interrupted for a text message notification.
Obnoxious. Annoying. Any way to fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think, it depends on the application, because when im using whatsapp it doesnt interrupt, but a gmail notification will interrupt the music playback... its kinda annoying...
I dream mp3's from my device to my car via Bluetooth.
It's horrid that notifications aren't silenced duringI music playback.
therefore turn off notifications volume when listening to music in the car.
This also bothers me. Coming from an iPhone the notifications would be overlaid and the music or current activity would lower in volume for the duration of the notification.
With the Note 3 if I am listening to a radio/music app I get an email/MSG it cuts the stream completely and then restarts it.
Daniel
Mute your phones.
Or enable the option to force the phone into silent mode while music is playing (custom ROMs). Perhaps some 3rd party music players support this option, too.
I am annoyed by this too. I use Trigger to automatically mute my phone when it connects to my car's bluetooth (and then start Waze, open Spotify and hit Play).
No custom ROM I've used has a way to change this behavior. I know that the apps are the ones that listen for this, Beyond Pod for example has a setting to ignore these pause signals and the notifications get overlayed. Spotify doesn't have this option, so muting sounds is my only solution. It works great in the car. You can add a Trigger action to mute when connected to Bluetooth, or when a headset is inserted to make it more automatic.
Tasker is of course another option, but I find Trigger much simpler and eye pleasing.
Doesn't happen for me with N7player and Whatsapp... It just keeps playing and puts the notification on top of the audio.

[Q] Bluetooth adapter / default music player

I use a Kinivo BTC450 bluetooth adapter that allows me to play music (or make phone) calls through my car stereo over BT. It works great. I have three of these...one for each vehicle.
When I get in any of the vehicles and press the big button on the Kinivo, music starts to play automatically through Poweramp. However, once in a while it will try to start playing music through the Amazon mp3 app but the app gives an error and if I press the Kinivo button again, music starts playing through Poweramp.
Now, there isn't a way to set up a default music player (AFAIK) on this phone. I never told Kinivo which app to use. How does it know to use Poweramp? Why doesn't it use the stock music player (which I've used before but don't anymore)? Why does it try to sometimes use the Amazon mp3 app?
I checked under the Application Manager and none of the these apps have anything set under "Launch by default" so I can't clear anything since the "Clear Defaults" button is grayed out.
I do have a small Poweramp widget on my home screen (no lockscreen is in use). Is this what is forcing Poweramp to be the "default". If so, why does Amazon mp3 sometimes try to start?
Thanks.

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